Star Wars: Battle of the West
by Sleeper 3173
Summary: What happens when the galaxy far far away suddenly isn't so far away after all? A small group of friends find out the hard way in the most violent war to ever touch the earth.
1. Chapter 1

Star Wars:

Battle of the West

A fan fiction inspired by Star Wars Fan Media's Imperial Invasion story line

By: Sleeper3173

AKA: ~The Jedi Ranger~

Prologue

Yet another boring morning. Michael Weber tried and failed to stifle a yawn before rubbing his tired eyes. He hadn't slept well that night and having to get up early to let the dogs out into the yard only made things worse. Then again, maybe staring at a computer screen while still half asleep wasn't such a good idea either. Oh well.

Plugging in his headphones, he slipped them over his ears and the sound of the TV was drowned out as he started his morning play list and opened up his Internet Explorer.

"Let's see how the page is doing today..." he muttered under his breath, then cursed softly as the screen flickered and went black for a second as his aging laptop suffered another driver failure.

Once it recovered, and he clicked out of all the warning messages, he opened up Facebook and signed in. While he hadn't done much over the past year, there were a few shining examples of achievements that made him smile. One of them was the success of his page Star Wars Fan Media. It had just grown to over 3,000 likes in just a few months, and it didn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

Reading the comments and messages, Michael began planning out what pictures he wanted to post that day. It was Monday, so the first thing he posted was that weeks Blue Milk Special. He had been surprised at how well that had been received by his page's followers. Then again, everything about the page had surprised him.

Stretching, he minimized Internet Explorer and opened up Word to resume writing the story he hoped to one day publish. Heh, a guy could dream couldn't he? His fingers starting to move over the keys, Michael zoned out into writing mode and lost track of time.

The ring of the telephone jerked him out of his trance and he glanced at his watch before cussing violently. Somehow three hours had passed without him noticing and it was getting close to the time when his father came home from work. He glanced at the TV to read the caller id and snorted. Speaking of the devil, it was his dad calling from his office near LAX.

"Michael?" called out his mom from the other side of the house. "Can you pick that up?"

"Sure..." he grumbled, carefully putting his laptop on the ground and getting out of his chair. Picking up the phone on the forth ring, he decided to be funny and used his horrible Chinese accent.

"Hewwo? You have reached Chows take-out. You order right now, I give food twenty-five percent off! No MSG! No Dogs! No Cats! You order, yes?" The reply had him hold the phone away from his ear.

"WILL YOU STOP THAT!" his dad bellowed. "Just turn on the news!"

"So you don't want Chinese food?" Michael asked looking around for the remote. "And why, whats on the news?"

"Just do it!"

"Alright alright... just give me a second..." Giving up on the remote, Michael sat down and picked back up his laptop and directed the Internet Explorer to . He liked Fox News better, but CNN ran a better streaming video on his laptop. As he waited for the page to load, he realized that his dad's end of the call had fallen silent.

"You still there?" he asked. "Hello?" When there was no reply, he shrugged and hung up. When the page loaded he went to their live TV page and waited for the stream to buffer. When the feed came up, his mouth dropped and he checked to make sure it wasn't April 1st.

An Imperial Star Destroyer was hovering over Los Angeles and more were dropping down through the atmosphere. As he watched, TIE fighters started pouring out of the ISD's hangar and and grouped together into squadrons.

"That's... that's impossible..." he muttered then shook his head. "MOM!" he bellowed. "Turn on the news in your room! Its important!"

Before she could reply, Michael felt the ground shudder and on his laptop screen he watched in shock as several of the ISD's opened fire with their turbolaser batteries and explosions started erupting from the streets of Los Angeles.

"FUCK!" he bellowed, and tossed the computer to the ground. He winced as it suffered another driver failure, but only paused long enough to see that it recovered then bolted to his room. Grabbing his camera case and his two-way radios, he stuck his head in his mother's room, who was just turning on the news.

"I'm going to go check it out!" he said quickly and tossed her one of the radios. Not even bothering to wait to hear her reply, he bolted out the door and started jugging up the hill they lived on. Living in the hills above Glendale, any trip involved at least some sort of climb, but he had enough adrenaline running through him that he barely noticed it. There was only one place nearby that allowed a view into Los Angeles, and it took him 15 minutes to climb up to Deukmejian Wilderness Park.

Panting slightly, he opened his camera case and pulled out his binoculars. Even from this distance the ISDs looked far bigger then he had ever imagined, and using the binoculars, he watched in horror as they continued to rain destruction down on the city. Pulling out his radio, he flicked it on.

"Hey mom, has dad called back yet?"

Silence.

"Mom?"

Silence... either she wasn't in the same room as the radio anymore or hadn't turned it on.

Thinking quickly, he pulled out his camera and attached his telephoto lens before snapping a few pictures. Taking a shortcut through the trees back to the main road, Michael winced at the sounds of explosions started drifting through the air. It wasn't long till he was jogging up his driveway and through the front door. He could hear his mom talking excitedly on the phone, and figured that was why she couldn't hear his radio calls.

He tracked her down in the play room, and waved to get her attention. Mouthing the word "Dad?" to her, he scowled when she shook her head. Cussing, Michael grabbed his cell phone to try and call his father again. When the call went to voice mail again, he cussed again and looked back at the TV screen. They had switched to skyscraper camera feeds after "technical difficulties" interrupted their feed from the helicopter covering the event. A sinking feeling entered his stomach.

Mind racing, he stepped into his mother's line of sight and gestured for her to hang up. He growled when she tried to wave him away and angerly pulled the phone out of her grip.

"Mother, shut up!" he snapped at her when she opened her mouth to scream at him. "For once in your life, listen to some one else! You know NOTHING about what is going on, so just shut up and listen to someone who does!" he took in the flushing of her face from utter rage and made up his mind in a flash.

"You know what?" he said as he walked over to collect his laptop. "Never mind. You wouldn't listen to me anyways. Things are going to hell in a basket, and I am not going to waste my time here. I'm going to go help in any way I can. Good-bye mother."

Grabbing his external hard drive off of the counter where he kept his laptop, and ignoring his mother's angerly spluttering, rushed into his room. The distant explosions in the background were getting more numerous and the ground had a steady rumble now.

Digging into his closet, he grabbed his bug out bag he had hidden in the bottom and hauled it out. Opening the large military backpack, he double checked that the emergency gear that he had collected over the past few years was in working order. Portable solar panel charger... batteries... first aid kit... spare clothes... navigation gear... all there. Good. At one time he had managed to get his hands on a machete that he had sharpened into a short sword, but his father had found it and taken it away. So for now, the most potent weapon he had his Swiss army knife and a 4 inch lock back knife. Grabbing the two canteens he had hanging off of the backpack, he went into the bathroom to fill them with water. He could hear that his mother was back on the phone talking rapidly with someone, and he shook his head in disgust.

Putting the canteens back, he stripped and put on what he called his bug out clothes. Even though he knew he would be hot, he put on a pair of brown cargo pants and his grandfathers army shirt. Lacing on his boots, he ran through his calming techniques. It was a strange feeling to both be terrified and elated at the same time.

Opening back up his laptop to shut it down, he watched as the CNN feed started streaming again and an idea struck him. Taking a quick screen shot, he posted it in SWFM with a small smile. Well, it DID say media in the name.. He also quickly typed up an e-mail to all his Star Wars content providers to send him news of the ongoing war as well as pictures if they could provide it. Satisfied, he shut down the laptop and tucked it into the correct pocket in his laptop.

Wandering around his room, he gathered up many of his electronics and tucked them the backpack before zipping it up so he could strap his camera bag to the top. Glancing around his room to see if he missed anything, Michael hesitated then grabbed his big Star Wars Encyclopedia figuring that it might come in handy. Shoving it into a duffel bag, he strapped it onto the backpack and made sure everything was secure.

Pulling on the backpack, he jumped up and down a few times to settle things before snapping together the chest strap. Looking around the room one final time, he sighed heavily and stepped out, closing the door close slowly behind him. Pausing, he looked back at his mom who was still in the phone. Sighing bitterly, he walked back into the TV room.

"Mom..." he said softly. "Come on. We need to get going while we still can." When she ignored him, he gently shook her arm. Her responding slap across the face sent him onto his butt. He stared up at her in shock, his face stinging.

"Never mind." he said, his anger returning as he climbed to his feet. "I stand by my earlier decision. Maybe we will see each other again once this is all over."

Turning his back on her, he didn't stop walking till the front door was closed behind him. Only there did he let himself stop and a single tear slid down his still stinging cheek. Shaking his head, he straitened his back and slowly took a step forward down the driveway. A step away from the only home he had ever known and into the unknown. Behind the hills in Los Angeles, the Imperials continued their attack, and air raid sirens started to go off across Southern California.

A/N: I know, most of you were expecting an update to my Birds of a Feather story, but this will be worked on in addition to that one. For those of you who are first time readers, welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the ride!

MTFBWY


	2. Chapter 2

Star Wars:  
The War of the Stars

By: Sleeper3173

AKA: ~The Jedi Ranger~

Chapter One:  
Departure

Michael hadn't gotten far down the hill before he spotted their neighbor Darrel in front of his house watching the ISDs that were visible above the mountain tops. An idea came to him and he quickly jogged down towards him, waving his arm to get his attention.

"Hey Darrel!" he called out. Darrel glanced up and waved back.

"Isn't this something Mikey?" Darrel asked. "Did you ever think anything like this would happen?" Michael shook his head.

"Yeah, its pretty incredible." he agreed. "Did I ever think this planet would be invaded by an alien race? Yes. Did I think it would be by what the entire world thought was a fictional universe? No, never." He paused as he watched what looked like an Acclamator-class drop down through the clouds. "However, we should be grateful. It's already clear that they want to conquer us, not annihilate us."

"How are you sure?" Darrel asked. Michael looked at him in disbelief.

"Because if they wanted to kill us all, they could have just stayed in orbit and bomb the entire surface of the planet into one giant sheet of glass. Instead, they are risking their ships by bringing them in range of our fighters and SAM batteries. The only explanation is that they are to support a ground invasion."

Darrel looked at him strangely, and Michael wasn't entirely sure that it wasn't because that he seemed to have put some thought into the whole thing.

"So what are you going to go do?" He asked him. Michael shrugged.

"I'm going to go help in any way I can." he replied. "Either as a fighter or as an adviser. I am sure they are going to need all the Star Wars nerds they can find."

Darrel made a sturgeon face and shook his head.

"So... I guess I need to ask you a questions..." Michael said carefully.

Darrel looked at him with narrowed eyes before gesturing for him to continue.

"Err..." Michael said hesitantly. "Do you have a gun I could borrow?" Darrel looked at him for a few seconds the burst out laughing.

"Sure I do." he said with a chuckle. "I have an old M1 Gerand and several muskets I could give you. They won't do you any good though." When Michael frowned, Darrel laughed harder. "I don't have

ammunition for any of them."

"Shit Darrel!" Michael exclaimed, annoyed. Darrel chuckled again and then his face took on a thoughtful look.

"However..." he said slowly. "I still might be able to help you out. Wait here."

While Darrel vanished into his house, Michael pulled out his binoculars and focused on the Imperial ships that were visible. It seemed they had stopped firing, but he could still hear explosions in the distance. In his gut, he knew that the Imperials would soon start deploying ground troops.

"Hey!" Darrel called out from behind him, startling him. He scowled at him, noticing that Darrel was carrying a large box.

"While I can't give you a gun," Darrel said as he set the box down on the ground. "I can give you other things that will help you out in other ways. How much do you know about military equipment?" Michael arched an eyebrow.

"I know more then most do, why?"

"Pop quiz time. Identify the items as I give them to you."

The first thing he tossed up was a helmet which Michael caught and quickly turned over in his hands, inspecting it.

"M1 helmet." he said, slipping into history mode far to easily. "Korean war issue. The unpainted steel and the lack of a net or cover hints as US Army origins."

Darrel smiled and tossed up a coiled up object.

"M-1956 pistol belt. The standard closure suggests that it was made before the Vietnam war switch to the quick release buckle."

Darrel smirked as he next handed up a long object wrapped in a thick cloth. Michael smiled as he unwrapped it.

"A M-1942 bayonet. Its 16 inch blade length says that it was issued in 19422 before the 1943 recall that shortened the blade to 10 inches. Let me guess, you got it along with the Gerand?"

At Darrel's nod, Michael pulled the bayonet from its sheath and inspected the edge.

"Hmm... good blade. Glade I thought of picking up a knife sharpener to put in my bug out bag."

Darrel laughed for a second then grew serious as he lifted the last item of the box, an old green pouch that went on the pistol belt and carefully handed it to Michael. Michael lifted the flip to look inside and immediately closed it again. Looking around, he made sure that his back was to the street before opening the pouch again. Biting his tongue, he carefully pulled out one of the trio of objects nestled in the pouch.

"Mark 2 frag grenade." he said softly. "Possibly an original Korean War issue." He paused and looked at Daniel. "Where the ass balls did you get these?"

"Hmm..." Daniel said stroking the beard stubble on his chin. "Three and a half. Not bad. You missed when the Mark 2s were issued. These particular ones were issued at the beginning of the Vietnam War. As for where.." he couldn't help but stop and laugh. "The Supply Sergeant in Burbank sold me what they thought was a three cell pouch with three dummy grenades. Imagine my surprise when I took them out to clean them and discovered they were live grenades! After that, I thought it would be a good idea to keep them around, just in case. I figure you can use them more at this point then I can."

Michael nodded and tucked the grenade back into its pouch.

"Alright." Darrel said, kicking aside the now empty box. "I'll help you put the stuff on the..." he trailed off when he saw that Michael already had the belt on and was attaching the bayonet sheath to his left side. "Never mind I guess."

"My dad uses one of these for a tool belt so I know how all the stuff goes on it." Michael explained as he drew the blade a few times to make sure it could be done quickly and easily as if he was drawing a sword. He started attaching the grenade pouch to the belt above his right back pocket. "I would have used that, except he long ago made it so that its length can't be adjusted."

Darrel stood there and watched Michael check to make sure that was snugly in place.

"So where will you go?" he asked finally. "And how will you get there?"

Michael put on the helmet, but choose to leave the straps hanging so that he could get it off in a hurry if he needed to.

"Los Angeles obviously." he said finally. "Or as close as I can to it anyways. I have no idea when they will start the ground invasion, or in what form it will take. So by the time I get to Los Angeles, the heavy fighting might have already started. As for how I'll get there..." he paused and thought about it. "A guy down the street own a Toyota FJ Cruiser that he has modded into an off-road vehicle. Light bar, cable winch, engine snorkel, all of that stuff. I figure I'll either talk him into letting me use it or outright steal it. I'll decide when I get down there."

Darrel frowned.

"I thought you didn't know how to drive?" he asked.

"I don't!" Michael replied with a laugh. "I don't know how to officially at any rate. A friend took the time to show me the basics once. Just another step I had taken in my survival training."

He paused then held out his hand which Darrel shook.

"Good luck Darrel." he said seriously, then hesitated. "I hope to see you again after all of this is over. Just... do me a favor will ya?"

Darrel frowned. "What is it?"

"I think I know what the Imperials are planning." he said. "So I want you to pack up, make sure mom packs up, and I don't care how you get her to do it, get the two of you out of California. Head to Nevada or New Mexico. And you need to do it in the next hour or so, before the roads out of the state are blocked either by traffic or Imperial forces. Think you can do that for me?"

Darrel smiled. "Of course. I'll even tie her up if I have too."

"Thanks Darrel." Michael said with a grin on his face. He turned around and walked down the driveway, but paused at the sidewalk.

"Hey Darrel!" he called out.

"What?"

"May the force be with you!"

Darrel cracked up and Michael started down the street with a grin on his face.

~The War of the Stars~

Michael was only a block away from his home when he decided to start making calls to his friends. Pulling out his cell phone, he opened up his contact list and scrolled through it till he found the number of his best friend. Dialing it, he only had to wait for two rings for it to be picked up.

"Zadok!" Michael exclaimed. "You've seen the news man? Or had a window open?"

"Yeah, I saw the news." Zadok replied, his voice sounding odd. "Looks like Lucas hid a lot from us."

"Yeah, you can say that again. Listen. I'm on my way to acquire a vehicle. We need to fight back. Where can I pick you up?" There was a soft sight through the phone.

"Listen, Michael... you're on your own for right now. I am packing a bag and going to go up into the Verdugo Mountains to lay low for awhile."

"What?!" Michael exclaimed, his jog down the hill coming to a sudden stop from the shock. "You mean to tell me that not only is the United States getting invaded, but is being invaded by a galaxy far far away, and you're planning on sitting it out?! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I'll tell you later. Just be careful OK? Good luck and I'll see you later."

To Michael's shock, the line went dead as Zadok hung up on him.

"Son of a.." Michael cursed, struggling to resist the urge to throw the cell phone to the concrete. Never would he have thought that Zadok would hide instead of fight. Hell, that was all they talked about when they were making their A to Z survival plans.

Still cussing, he went back through his contact list. Spotting his friend Rick Pettersson's number, he smiled and dialed it.

When the call went unanswered, the smile slid from his face. It was beginning to look like he really was going to be alone in this. He sighed bitterly and resumed his jog down the hill. His mind was racing through hundreds of different plans he had made up over the years, trying to one together that might work in such a bizarre situation.

A block above the target house, Michael stopped and sat down on the curb. Pulling out his cell phone, he stared at it for a minute while he gathered his wits. There was one more call he had to make that he knew probably wasn't going to be pleasant: to his girlfriend. Dialing her number, the phone rang three times before it was picked up, much to his relief.

"Hello?" came Jaina Smith's voice. Born as Emily Smith, she had been a die hard Star Wars fan for as long as she could remember. As soon as she turned 16 she got a court order to get her name changed, though it took her three months to decide if she wanted to change her name to Jaina or Mara Jade. While she had Mara's flaming red hair and green eyes, she felt that her personality more closely matched that of Jaina's. In the end she semi compromised and her full name was changed to Jaina Mara Smith.

"Hey there my love." Michael said softly, keeping an eye on the Imperial ships.

"Michael!" came Jaina's relieved voice over the phone. "When you didn't call right away I.. I..."

"Ssh.." Michael said gently. "Did you really think I would be killed off so quickly." He could almost picture the smile that surely swept across her face.

"I was still worried." she said. "Whats going on over there?" Michael snorted.

"Me and mom had another fight. She went into her 'Don't tell me what to do' mode and I kinda snapped. Good thing this war is starting or I would be homeless with nowhere to go right now."

"Oh hun... I am so sor-." she started to say before suddenly stopping. Michael cringed and held the phone away from his ear, anticipating what was coming next.

"MICHAEL WEBER! YOU WERE PLANNING ON GOINGF OFF TO FIGHT THE IMPS WEREN'T YOU?! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT ME! I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT BUT YOU GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GO FIGHT WITHOUT ME!"

"Hun, listen to me, you don... wait, what?" Michael stopped, having expected her to say something other then what she did.

"You heard me. You're not going off to fight without me. We don't live that far apart from each other, so you don't have any excuse to not pick me up or meet me here."

Michael grinned slowly.

"Your wish is my command my pet. I'll be there in about 20 minutes. Also don't yell at me like that again." Jaina laughed.

"Yes master. I'll go pack up. I need to go call mom and dad. Do you think work would care if I stopped reporting in for work?"

"That ad company is down in Los Angeles right? I have a feeling they won't be caring about much right about now. Pack quickly. See you then."

"OK. I love you."

"I know."

Jaina laughed at the obvious Star Wars reference and the line disconnected. Getting back to his feet, Michael put the cell away. Peering around the bushes on the corner, he frowned when he saw activity at the target house. Straitening up, he tightened the straps on his backpack and walked down.

The owner of the SUV that he wanted was busy tossing hurriedly packed duffel bags and other odds and ends into the bed of a truck that already had a Harley-Davidson strapped down in it. Like Michael, he must have figured that he had a limited amount of time to get out of the area easily. However... the truck was all that he was packing. He grinned as a plan came together in his mind.

"Howdy!" he called out, attracting the man's attention. The man turned and looked Michael over, his eyes lingering on the bayonet and helmet.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

"To be honest?" Michael said bluntly. "Since your clearly not using it, your SUV."

The man growled and lifted his shirt to show the butt of a gun in his waist band. Michael countered by calmly pulling his hand out from behind his back and revealing the grenade he was holding. The man eyed it warily.

"No need for this to get out of control." Michael said calmly. "You are clearly not able to use it, I'm not asking you to hand over all of your valuables such as your gun there. I'm just asking for the use of a vehicle you can't use and I am in extreme need of. Besides, if I don't take it, someone else will steal it when more and more people realize they need to get out. Though to be honest, either way, the odds of you getting it back without a few holes is... er... slim."

The man glared at Michael for a minute then jerked his head towards his house.

"The keys are on the first peg inside the front door." he said reluctantly. "There are a few spare parts and tools in the back if they shoot anything to critical. Now get the hell out of here before I change my mind."

"Cheers!" Michael said with a grin, tucking away the grenade. Walking over, he stuck his head into the door and spotted the keys. Grabbing them, he walked over to the FJ Cruiser, he climbed onto the hood much to the man's chagrin. He quickly popped off the covers on the light bar and hopped down to the ground to toss his backpack into the backseat.

"Thank you and good luck out there!" he called out to the man with a wave. The man returned the wave with the one finger salute and Michael got into the SUV smirking. He took a few minutes to study the gauges and controls on the dashboard before slipping the key into the ignition and turning the engine on. After the initial roar, the engine settled into a steady purr. He shifted the SUV into gear, but paused when he saw Darrel's car go down the street with his mother and the family dogs in the passenger seats.

Feeling a weight lifting off of his shoulders, Michael took a huge step then slowly eased the FJ out of the driveway and down the street. Fishing out his iPod, he plugged it into the SUV and relaxed as his custom play list started.

After a half hour of driving later, and getting lost twice, Michael pulled to a stop outside of Jaina's house and honked the horn. Getting out of the SUV, he smiled when he saw that Jaina came running out of her door towards him. Catching her, he twirled them around laughing happily.

"Oh thank god you're here!" Jaina exclaimed, showering his face with kisses. "I was worried you had to walk the whole way and I couldn't get in contact with my parents. Where did you get the SUV?"

"I was able to convince a guy that it was better with me then left alone." he replied with a laugh. He then took a step back and saw that she was wearing her tight black leather bodysuit from one of her Jedi cosplays with a ring collar around her neck. "How come you're wearing that? Trying to look like an ubber sexy Mara Jade while you fights the Imperials?"

"Oh hush!" she said slapping his arm playfully, knowing full well how erotic she must look to the average male. "I don't have anything else to wear into a battlefield that doesn't include a skirt of some kind. Now come on, my stuff is just inside the door. Nice helmet by the way."

"Thanks." Michael said, walking over to her house to get her stuff after slapping her butt slightly. "Its Darrel's stuff."

"Nice. Think a bayonet will be able to punch through trooper armor?"

"It better or this isn't going to end well." Picking up her gear, he arched an eyebrow as he held up a belt with a survival bowie knife on it.

"What?" Jaina protested. "I like to plan just as much as you do."

"Not that pet." Michael said with a smile. "I just don't know why you aren't wearing it. Come over here."

Pulling her close, he buckled the belt around her lithe waist and smiled.

"There!"

"Thank you master." she said with a grin.

"So what did you bring?" Michael asked.

"Probably not the variety that you brought." Jaina admitted as she helped Michael load the few bags into the backseat with his backpack. "Mom and dad didn't like to spend money on stuff like that, so what I got I could, such as food, cooking gear, and medical supplies. I hope mom and dad don't come home and need any of that stuff. I left a marker pen message on the wall telling them where I went."

"I wouldn't worry about it." Michael told her as he loaded in the last bag. "No offense, but I hope your parents are smart enough to just get the hell out of the state and not come back here first."

"No offense taken."

Both of them got into the SUV and Michael turned towards Jaina and smiled.

"Well my love." he said. "Are you ready to go kick some Imp ass?"

"Only if you let me navigate." Jaina replied as she pulled out her modified tablet and activated the map app.

Michael grinned and put the SUV in gear.

"Deal."


End file.
